Daily Inspiration: Meet Richard Bantigue

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Bantigue.

Richard, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve been creating art since I was just a kid in the Philippines. I can’t remember the actual age I started but I know it must’ve been since I was 7 or 8. I loved watching anime and reading comic books each day I come home from school. I was inspired by the world building, epic stories and larger than life characters. I remember getting in trouble a lot when I would fill my notebooks with sketches after sketches instead of taking notes in class. I became obsessed with studying each character and re-drawing them over and over to the point where I even attempted to create my own comic books. None were published of course, the English was terrible, but it was great practice, nonetheless.

My friends and I would compete with each other to establish creative dominance in the classroom. We didn’t have smartphones or social media to distract us from the real world, so we had to rely on our creativity to have fun and escape the poverty we all faced growing up the rice paddies. I moved to America when I was 16 (2006) where I continued high school in Lebanon MO. Our school system in the Philippines only goes up to 10 grades and I had already finished school by the time I was 15. I took as many art classes as my counselor would allow me. I studied a variety of mediums and experimented with several art forms and styles. I won numerous competitions while working on several freelance art projects. I took just about any projects that would offer me money. From designing logos to painting murals.

In 2009, I joined the Marine Corps where they quickly discovered my artistic abilities and immediately put me to work. I’ve painted murals on ships from the west to east coasts. I’ve painted murals on several air stations. I’ve designed/redesigned many unit logos and motivational shirts. I’ve also painted portraits of fallen comrades as a gift for the grieving families. Overall, it was a great and humbling experience for me to learn and grow from. I started customizing shoes back in late 2017 – early 2018. It was the last few months I have left in the Marine Corps. It wasn’t anything serious, I started painting shoes for friends and family experimenting with style and materials.

After 8 years of active duty, I left the Marines and went to NC State and earned a degree in film studies. We all know what happened in 2020, the pandemic literally changed everyone’s lives in an instant. I was not able to find a job due to majority of businesses being shut down. During my last semester at NC State, I knew that I would have to take my art seriously if I wanted to earn some type of income after graduating. I went back to what I do best, and I started posting more frequently on social media.

In some miracle happenstance, a 10 second video of a weightlifting belt I painted went viral on TikTok, garnering over 6.7 million views in April 2021. The video has totally changed my life. Suddenly, thousands of clients started pouring in and I still haven’t caught up on all the emails from last year. Not long after that, I decided to hire a manager to help me with the workload. I now focus on the creative side and my manager focuses on client acquisition/administrative side of the business. During the time of this interview, I’ve stayed consistently booked 6 months ahead and continued to find ways to grow my business.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road. However, I am a firm believer that obstacles and challenges are necessary steps to climb the top of the ladder. I’ve failed many times and there’s plenty more failures to come. When I was in the Marines, I started a failed clothing company. My partners and I were inexperience about business and did not have time since we were all still in active duty. We ended up dissolving the company. Instagram was a great source of networking, but I’ve felt that my art was overlooked and virtually no one was paying attention to what I was posting back then. Crippling anxieties and fear of failures have also played a major role in my failed business decisions or lack thereof. The most important thing, I had come to learn is the true meaning of the expression “art is subjective”. I thought I knew what that meant until I started putting price tags in front of them. Majority of the masses do not value visual art as much as they do with their musicians, or unless you’re already famous. I get a lot of hate due to my pricing and it has really been a struggle trying to educate potential customers about my creative process.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I now paint and specializes mostly on leather and canvas material from sneakers to weightlifting belts. But I am widely known for being the pioneer on painting highly detailed artwork on weightlifting belts. As far as what sets me apart, I will have to say it is the quality of product and art style I produce. The anime community has exploded in the recent years and most of the art that you see now is a derivative of one another. It is so hard to tell who the artist is behind their work nowadays and I think that is where I am gaining traction from. Coming from a graphic design and portrait art background, I was able to bring my digital art knowledge and my realistic style into an otherwise two-dimensional linework of a cartoon. I am proud of my young self for never giving up art and for the humble beginnings and all the experiences I’ve had to endure to get me to this point. I am proud and thankful to my loving and supportive wife who stood by my side for over 13 years now. She has truly been the reason why I have the privilege pursuing my passion in art. I am still quite ambitious and plan to expand my creative endeavors.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
It sounds cliché, but my advice is to not ever give up. Send dm’s, emails, text or even phone calls. There are dozens of social media platform out there and there are hundreds of ways to reach someone. When I was starting out it was hard to find people, let alone finding a way to communicate with them. It felt like everyone ignored me and no one was willing to divulge information. Gatekeeping is a real thing even today. It didn’t help with the fact that I was an introvert and too proud to ask for help. So, it took everything in my power to finally reach out to a few people that I can network and collaborate with. Social media was definitely a big help. With everything I have going on now, I still find a way to seek out other likeminded people for networking. I even take an hour a week to stream a live painting session called “Art and Coffee” on Twitch so I can help others along the way. It is a live stream where I get to converse and teach my fellow artists what I know about art and vice versa while we all have fun painting together drinking coffee in the morning.

Contact Info:

• Email: bantigueartsllc@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.bantiguearts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bantiguearts/
• Facebook: https://www.tiktok.com/@bantiguearts
• Twitter: https://www.twitch.tv/bantiguearts
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/bantiguearts
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bantiguearts

Image Credits
Not applicable